At Little Bramingham Farm residential care home in Luton, Bedfordshire, resident’s regular furry, four-legged visitor – Winnie the Pooch – has had a wonderful day celebrating her 3rd Birthday with all her care home friends.
Winnie, a cute Blue Roan coated Cockapoo, is a qualified Pets As Therapy (PAT) Dog and spends every Monday morning with our Little Bramingham Farm residents enjoying fun, frolics, games, treats and plenty of cuddles.
To celebrate her 3rd Birthday, Little Bramingham Farm’s Activities Coordinator, Karen Charity, arranged for Winnie to enjoy a special, surprise birthday party. “Winnie is a much-loved member of our care home family, so when we found out it was her birthday, we wanted to make it as special as possible.
“The residents had a secret mission, making beautiful birthday cards for Winnie. We started making and designing the unique cards a few weeks ago, but everyone kept ‘Mum’ about them as we wanted to surprise Winnie and also her owner, Martin.”
“Both Winnie and I were totally caught off guard by the surprise party, it was so kind of everyone at Little Bramingham Farm to do such a lovely thing for Winnie, she was definitely in the mood to ‘Paw-ty’,” added Winnie’s owner, Martin Rodker.
Winnie had great fun opening her birthday present – a very cute toy Elephant and, as a special treat, indulging in a few birthday biscuits. “We made up a game of ‘Hide and Seek The Birthday Biscuit’ for Winnie. We carefully placed a few birthday treats around the Lounge and Winnie wasted no time in hunting them out. The residents joined in giving her a few helpful hints of ‘warmer’ and ‘it’s over there’, so it didn’t take too long until all the tasty treats had been found and eaten,” added Karen.
“The birthday biscuits were only small, as I didn’t want her over indulging too much,” added Martin. “The residents have a Birthday Hat which they thought would look adorable on Winnie. It was way too big for her, but admittedly, she did look very cute.”
Winnie’s birthday celebrations didn’t stop there. Once she had received lots of fussing from the residents in the Lounge – and tried unsuccessfully to get any tea and cream custard biscuits – she was off on her weekly tour around Little Bramingham Farm for her one-to-one visits. “Winnie always makes sure nobody misses out on seeing her,” continued Karen.
“Winnie’s weekly Monday visits, always start the week off in such a positive way for all our residents. It was her special day, so we wanted to make sure we raised the ‘Woof’ in her honour,” said Emma Lawrance, the Registered Manager at Little Bramingham Farm
“Just like humans, dogs have their star signs and traits too. A dog born under the Aquarius (20th January to 18th February) sign loves to hang out with the pack and make new friends, which is just so true of Winnie. Her ‘Pack’ are our residents and it’s clear that they all love each other very much. We are so glad Winnie enjoyed her birthday, she really is the most ‘Fetching’ pup around,” concluded Emma.
Find out more about Little Bramingham Farm care home by calling 01582 582 433 or emailing enquiries@fote.org.uk.